Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 512 Negotiations with the Yanjing Television Creative Center Failed
The first reader is of course my daughter-in-law Song Tangtang.

In fact, Song Tangtang would read the script written by Fang Minghua every night, help him check for typos, and when Fang Minghua was taking a break, she would discuss the plot with him and put forward her own suggestions for revisions.

The script of "Ordinary World" is basically faithful to the original, especially the personalities and endings of several main characters. Of course, there are still big differences between the script and the novel.

The plot is more compact and the conflicts are more intense, especially the sentences that were often narrated in the original work are well handled.

Song Tangtang was a little excited after reading the written script.

"Minghua, print it out quickly. I can't wait. I will contact Zheng Xiaolong when I get to work tomorrow and go to Yanjing in the next two days!"

"Lu Yao hasn't seen it yet." Fang Minghua reminded.

"I don't think Lu Yao will ask you to make major changes. If you have any disagreements about a certain episode, just send it to Zheng Xiaolong after you revise it."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Look, spring is coming soon. The time span of your play is very long, and many of the scenes are outdoor. You need to shoot rural scenes, such as crops growing in the fields. If you miss this season, you will have to wait until next spring!" Song Tangtang expressed his opinion.

That's true. We have to consider the production cost and even more so the time.

"Okay, I'll print two copies tonight. You can take one and I'll give the other to Lu Yao."

So throughout the evening, Fang Minghua's study was filled with the monotonous sound of the squeaking printer.

Early the next morning, Song Tangtang went to work. After Fang Minghua finished breakfast and went home, he put a stack of scripts into a plastic bag and then staggered to Lu Yao's house.

At this time, Lu Yao was eating at home. When he saw Fang Minghua come in, he greeted her.

"Come, have a bowl of mutton soup."

Lu Yao especially likes to eat mutton, and his family makes soup every now and then, no matter it is winter or summer.

Fang Minghua smiled and waved his hands, saying that he had already eaten.

"Brother Lu, I have already written the script, take a look." Fang Minghua said and put the plastic bag on the living room.

"Okay, I'll watch it after dinner."

Lu Yao suddenly remembered something after he finished speaking: "Wait a minute, I have just finished writing a novella, can you help me take a look at it?"

After saying that, Lu Yao put down his bowl and chopsticks, wiped his mouth, and hurried into the study. He quickly took out a manuscript and handed it to Fang Minghua.

"Okay, Brother Lu, take your time eating. We'll discuss this after I go back and take a look." Fang Minghua said and stood up.

"okay."

Fang Minghua returned home and sat in the study before opening the manuscript given by Lu Yao.

"Looking for Romance"?
This name is quite romantic.

Fang Minghua looked carefully while drinking tea.

Lu Yao also wrote down his motivation for creation on a piece of paper.

It turned out that Lu Yao deeply felt that in recent years young people have a tendency to pursue practical benefits, and the light of their ideals has become somewhat dim.

This is the impact of economic development and civil society. It is understandable but regrettable and worrying. The cost of economic development is too high!
After exploring the reasons, I found that our lives lacked the "romantic spirit". Therefore, I conceived this article to reflect this social and spiritual problem and named it "Looking for Romance".

It's idealism indeed.

Fang Minghua looked at it carefully.

A young man from a county town named Liu Xiaojun, who was a diligent, studious and idealistic student, became unemployed due to failure in the college entrance examination and gradually became materialistic and decadent.

The tone of the novel is a bit dark, with some of the style of neo-realism novels.

Lu Yao has published relatively few novels in the past two years, only one novella or two short stories a year, and his styles vary, including magical realism, postmodernism, and now new realism.

It is obvious that Lu Yao is still working hard to break through himself and find new ways of writing.

But as far as this novel is concerned, it can be considered a new realist novel.

Although the name is Looking for Romance, the content is not romantic at all, and it lacks the sensational language in "Ordinary World", becoming much more indifferent and distant.

Fang Minghua watched it carefully and also used pencil to give his own opinions on certain plots, of course, for the other party's reference only.

I am not the editor-in-chief of the magazine now, so I cannot take over the responsibility.

Apart from revising the novel written by Lu Yao, Fang Minghua basically had nothing to do.

The days when I am not typing are very relaxing. Besides practicing calligraphy, looking at paintings and reading books, I also start decorating my own small building.

Of course, all the labor and materials are contracted out.

Although it is a bit expensive, it saves trouble.

A week later, Song Tangtang returned from Yanjing, but after entering the house, Fang Minghua found that she looked very unhappy.

"Tangtang, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Fang Minghua asked with concern.

"No. Zheng Xiaolong and I had a falling out." Song Tangtang sounded a little frustrated.

"Don't worry, I'll pour you a cup of coffee. Warm yourself up first. Your hands are cold." After saying that, Fang Minghua walked towards the study.

My wife likes coffee and he likes tea, and they don't interfere with each other.

Fang Minghua made a cup of steaming Blue Mountain coffee and brought it to the coffee table in the living room. Song Tangtang took it and took a few sips. His expression eased a little, and then he told her the whole story.

"Zheng Xiaolong was also very optimistic about the script, but he put forward his own requirements."

"any request?"

"First, no more ads can be inserted into the entire TV series because the end credits ad of the previous series, Desire, affected the effect of the ads played on their channel."

"Bullshit," Fang Minghua replied.

"The second one."

"They must own half of the rights to this TV show!"

"why?"

"He said that during the filming of the previous part of Desire, some plots in the script were modified. This is the result of their labor and we must give them the copyright."

"Let them talk nonsense. I have watched all 20 episodes, and only two episodes have had major changes. Giving them some copyrights is acceptable, but asking for half? That's just asking for too much," said Fang Minghua.

"That's what I meant. We can respect the fruits of your labor and give you a certain amount of copyright, but at most 10%. Half is simply impossible." Song Tangtang continued, "But Zheng Xiaolong insisted that it must be at least 35%, otherwise there would be no deal, so the talks fell through."

"I guess Zheng Xiaolong is relying on the fact that their Yenching Creative Center is full of talented people. We have our eyes on outstanding directors like Lu Xiaowei and Zhao Baogang, so he is deliberately raising the price, right?" Fang Minghua sneered.

"That's what I meant, but there's another reason."

"what reason?"

"I heard from someone that Yanjing Television is planning to shoot a large-scale indoor drama. It seems that Wang Shuo, Ma Weidu, and someone called Feng Xiaogang are writing the script, and Zhao Baogang is directing. The name of the TV series is "The Story of the Editorial Department."

So that's it! Fang Minghua suddenly understood.

Another hit TV show from the 90s is about to come out.

(End of this chapter)